Academic Advising Handbook

The academic advising handbook is an online document that is designed to aid faculty and staff members in their roles as an advisor. The academic advising handbook is updated on a regular basis to reflect changes in advising procedures. Suggested course sequences are updated on an annual basis to reflect any changes in curriculum.

General Policies

All freshmen entering Milligan College are assigned a faculty mentor who will function as the academic adviser for that year. All other students will be assigned an adviser, usually from within the discipline in which the student is majoring. Milligan College requires regular meetings between students and their academic mentors or advisers—three meetings per semester for freshmen and once per semester for all other students. At one of those meetings, the adviser approves a student’s schedule of classes for the following semester. Failure to meet with academic advisers will result in an inability to pre-register for classes.

Students are especially encouraged to consult with advisers on a regular basis. While a student‘s satisfactory progress toward graduation is the responsibility of the student, regular contact with one‘s adviser can help ensure timely progress toward graduation.

Faculty Responsibilities

All faculty members who have been at Milligan College for more than one year will have advising responsibilities unless excused by the academic dean. First year faculty members are not required to provide academic advising. Academic advising by first year faculty members is strongly discouraged.

Faculty members are expected to keep appropriate records for students in an advising folder. Advisers are encouraged to keep accurate records in an advising folder for each student that they advise. The Registrar’s office has a standard form for advising, however, faculty members are free to use or construct any form that they feel is most helpful to them in the advising process..

Faculty members are expected to meet with their advisees prior to pre-registration and approve their schedules via self-service. After their advisees register for classes, the advisor must review the students’ schedule electronically and approve their classes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the role of the current Catalog?

It is important for both advisers and students to be aware of the current Catalog under which the new students are entering. This Catalog constitutes a contract between the College and the students which lasts for six years. After six years, students have to meet current degree requirements. This Catalog specifies the academic requirements of these advisees for graduation. Remind the student that they should be familiar with the general education requirements, major requirements and minor requirements (when applicable). You may access the Catalog online at www.milligan.edu/Catalog.

Can a student change catalogs?

Students may choose to use the catalog they entered into Milligan OR they may use any catalog and its requirements for any of the years that they are enrolled at Milligan. However, they can not pick and choose from the catalog. They must use all of the graduation requirements of the catalog they choose.

Is advising students who want to pursue a teaching license really that difficult?

Yes, it is a complicated maze of state requirements that often changes on a yearly basis. Students wishing to pursue teacher licensure must have a major in an academic major and take classes for teacher licensure. With the exception of the child and youth development major, students pursuing teacher licensure will have two different advisors: their major advisor and their education advisor. Indeed, to aid in their academic career, students wishing to pursue licensure must file an Intent to Pursue Teaching Licensure Form in the CASE Center.

Do developmental studies classes count for graduation?

No, developmental studies classes are not included in the 128 hours that is needed to graduate. However, they do figure into a student s GPA.

Are there any classes that students can test out of?

Yes, when students enter the college they can take foreign language, mathematics or computer placement testing. The only class that a student can receive credit through Milligan College testing is CIS 275 (Windows Applications) for which students can receive 3 credits through testing. Questions about CLEP tests, AP credit, transfer credit, and other such questions should typically be answered through the registrar s office.

When can students drop classes without them appearing on their transcript?

Typically, students can drop classes without anything appearing on their transcript within the first two weeks of classes. Students can typically drop a class with a guaranteed W during the first 11 weeks in the semester. This date is posted on the Milligan College website.

Can a student reschedule final examinations?

A student can reschedule an exam only if a student has 3 exams scheduled on the same day. If this occurs he or she may request permission to reschedule one at a later date. The student should submit a request for rescheduling an exam to the Dean with faculty endorsement attending the request. The Director of Academic Advising encourages faculty to grant relief to students with 3 exam scheduled on the same day. Cheap airfare or the desire to get a good price on a cruise is not a valid reason to reschedule exam.

Are minors required at Milligan College?

A student may choose to pursue a minor but they are not mandatory. Some majors, such as pre-med or pre OT may strongly encourage minors. Also, students pursuing licensure in secondary education must still complete all of the teaching requirements required by Tennessee state law which is equivalent to an Educational Studies minor.

Can a course fulfill both a general education requirement and a major requirement?

The answer is usually yes.

A course can count for both a major and a general education requirement. For example, Psychology 250 is required for psychology majors. It is also a general education requirement. Thus, a psychology student might wish to take Psych 250 and have it count towards both his or her major requirement and general education requirement. This would free up room for electives or other courses of interest.

A course can count for both a minor and a general education requirement.

BUT

A course cannot count for both a major and a minor requirement. Business administration majors are required to take ECON 201 and 202. The economics minor contains ECON 201 and 202. Thus if a student wanted to major in business administration and a minor in economics, ECON 201 and 202 would count only for their business major. They would be required to take an additional six hours of appropriate electives to fulfill their accounting minor.

EXCEPT certain education classes can count for both Early Childhood Development major and the Early Childhood Education Minor.

ALSO

A course cannot fulfill more than one general education requirements course. For example, a student could not count World Geography 202 as both a Social Learning Requirement and an ethnic studies requirement.

SPECIAL CASE: BIBLE MINORS

Bible 123 and 124 may count towards the Bible Minor, but Christ and Culture may not. The Minor requires 9 hours of Old Testament coursework and 9 hours of New Testament Coursework. Christ and Culture doesn’t fit into that structure. Thus, a bible minor must take Bible 101, 102, and 12 hours of classes in addition to Christ and Culture.

Does a student really have to fill out paperwork to withdraw from a class?

Yes. I know this seems like a silly question, but each semester there are students who stop coming to class or drop out of school without officially withdrawing. This will result in an F. Please remind students that if they choose to withdraw from a class, they must fill out the proper paperwork.

What happens if a student does poorly in one class and afterwards decides to retake the class?

As long as the class is taken at Milligan College, the most recent grade will be the one that is figured into a student s GPA. Their past grade will be dropped from their GPA. If a student performs worse in their most recent class, the most recent class is still the grade that counts toward the GPA.

Can a student pump up their GPA by taking courses at a less demanding institution?

Beginning with students transferring in after Spring 2001, their grades will not figure into Milligan GPA s. In other words, the hours will count toward graduation, but a student s Milligan GPA will be based only on courses taken while at Milligan.

Can a student avoid Humanities classes by taking equivalent classes at another college?

Once a student enrolls in traditional undergraduate program at Milligan College, still needing humanities courses as part of the core, those courses must be taken at Milligan College. Initial transfers can receive some Humanities credit, depending on their courses.

When does a student go on academic probation?

An undergraduate who fails to receive a 2.0 GPA during any semester of enrollment in Milligan College or who fails to have a 2.0 cumulative GPA is placed on academic probation or dismissed. If a student fails to achieve a 2.0 the following semester, the College is not obligated to grant the privilege of further study.

How do I seek accommodations for a student with a learning disability?

Students wishing to receive special accommodations for their learning disability must submit appropriate documentation to the Academic Dean. The professional counseling staff or special education faculty of Milligan College will then evaluate it. This evaluation will recommend specific accommodations. After these accommodations are approved by the Dean, the Dean will notify the student s instructors.

I know that Humanities is a 16 hour sequence, but I have a student who transferred into Milligan with 6 hours of Humanities credit. Which Humanities course should the student sign up for?

The registrar s office complete a transfer evaluation for all students which will aid you and your advisee in choosing the appropriate Humanities credit or substitution class.

What should I do if a student is having serious social, emotional, or academic problems?

A variety of resources exist for the student experiencing these problems. The Student Success Office is one of our key resources. Another person to contact would be the school nurse who can perform a triage evaluation to see if the student may benefit from counseling. If the student is a resident student it also advised that you contact the residence life director.

Advising Loads

Normal graduate student advising loads are considered 6-18 students. Above 18 students is an advising overload.

Graduate faculty who have the reduced graduate faculty teaching load may be expected to carry both an undergraduate and a graduate advising load. In this case the total number of major advisees (not licensure) should not exceed 25.

Advising overloads will be factored into general load calculations, either as part of the regular faculty load if there is a low teaching load, or as a paid overload if there is a full load. Overloads are calculated as follows:

1-10 students advising overload = ½ hour overload

11-20 students advising overload = 1 hour overload

21-30 students advising overload = 1½ hour overload

No faculty should have more than 30 students advising overloadSome faculty may have a reduced advising load, if requested by the Area Chair and approved by the Dean.

The Registrar’s Office will assign freshmen to advisers, based in part on the need to balance loads across disciplines, taking into consideration special needs of some majors by concentrating more students among selected advisers. If it is necessary to assign students to advisers outside of the major, this will be done in consultation with the area.

Area chairs shall assign major advisers (to rising sophomores), attempting to balance loads within the guidelines noted above. All advising load assignments will be submitted to the Dean’s office for final approval.

Freshman mentors are compensated by either reduced load or overload pay on a separate basis, and would not be calculated into the general advising loads defined above.

ETSU Co-Op

As you are advising students about possible options, please note the following rules regarding use of ETSU via the co-op program:

We as a general rule only approve courses at ETSU during the school year for courses that a student must have and cannot get at Milligan.So, this basically means required courses that we aren’t offering in a reasonable period of time (that is, the student can’t fit it in with any reasonable planning), OR courses that a student cannot take because of schedule conflicts. The area chair must sign off on all requests, so please do the double checking, faculty and Area chairs: I really hate being the only one that says no.On occasion we do approve of courses that are needed, even if not required. These would include courses outside our curriculum that simply fit a specialized field of study (e.g., a student wanting to compare Asian and European religions and culture, where we offer nothing in Asian stuff). But the bar is high, and you will need to persuade me to make an exception, knowing that every exception is cited as a precedent by others with far less compelling rationale. The big point here is that the burden of proof is on the student and you, the adviser.

During the summer, however, we generally allow a student to take just about any course via the co-op. And the rationale is clear… students can and do take classes at local colleges and transfer them in. We usually don’t question that. The co-op in this case is our service to students that stay in the area. It also can allow a student a mechanism to help an ailing gpa. Because remember, ETSU co-op courses are Milligan grades (while transfer courses are not, and do not affect a GPA).

Undecided Students

Advisers of undecided students have the special challenge of getting their students to broaden their horizons by taking a wide variety of courses and to channel their interests into a more defined area. The following suggestions are directed to students. You may find some of them helpful in getting students to look at the old question of “What’s the best major for me?”

First, get to know the majors that are open to you. You may be familiar with English, History, Chemistry or Math, but do you have any real idea what Sociology, Communications or Humanities are all about as major fields? Before you choose a major field, read a catalog description of each major and then talk to faculty members in those academic areas.

Get first-hand experience. Experiment with different courses before making decisions. A note of caution: don’t limit yourself to beginning level courses that exist primarily to fulfill general education requirements. They sometimes are too broad in scope to give you an accurate picture of the major.

Evaluate what you’ve earned to date. What courses have you enjoyed the most? Least? Why? How do the majors you’re considering relate to your interests, abilities and values? This evaluation should help you narrow your choices to a few possibilities.

Evaluate the majors you’re considering. You’re close to making a choice. The following checklist may help you confirm or reassess your decision.

Do you know:

What preparatory courses are required?

What is the minimum Grade Point Average for acceptance into the major?

How many courses in the major are required?

Are the courses in the major field sequential or non-sequential?

Are the examinations in the field finite reasoning or easy?

How much freedom is there for elective courses?

How many credits are needed to graduate in the major?

Who is the area adviser? Can I work with this person?

Excerpted by Bert Allen from “Choosing the right major,” At&T’s College Series